THOMAS TOWNSHIP RAID IS AT THE INTERSECTION OF CONFLICTING STATE,
FEDERAL MARIJUANA LAWS

Michigan's Medical Marijuana Act of 2008 doesn't matter.

White House attitudes toward medical marijuana don't matter, nor does
a U.S. Attorney General's directive in October ordering federal
prosecutors to back off.

U.S. Drug Enforcement Adminstration agents continue to bust up medical
marijuana growing operations around the country.

In Thomas Township last week, they struck again.

Federal agents assisted by township police stormed out of their
vehicles last week, guns drawn, and took the marijuana and an
estimated $10,000 in equipment that John Roberts and Stephanie Whisman
had in their state-registered medical marijuana growing operation.

Their Bay City attorney, Ed Czuprynski, charged that the raid was
harassment for the rally that Roberts organized the week before
against Saginaw County Sheriff's Department raids, which included his
operation in April. The rally also called for the recall of the sheriff.

The timing of the DEA action was, indeed, stinky. Although, DEA
officials deny that their execution of a federal search warrant had
anything to do with the rally.

Whatever.

The point is that Michiganders who voted in November 2008
overwhelmingly said the medical use of marijuana is A-OK with them.

But any marijuana use, possession and sale is against federal
law.

What we appear to have in Thomas Township is the intersection of
conflicting state and federal laws.

It's a place where U.S. Attorney General Eric R. Holder told federal
prosecutors last fall not to go. He told them to back away from
pursuing cases against medical mariuana patients.

Roberts is a patient registered in Michigan to grow and use marijuana
for medical reasons. He and his fiancee are also state-registered
caregivers allowed to grow marijuana for up to five patients each.
Roberts has said the marijuana they had on hand was less than the
amount that state law allows them to have.

So, while it may appear that they were well within the dictates of
Michigan's law, DEA agents have made a federal case out of them.

State law vs. federal law: Who's right?

The wishes of Michigan voters vs. a long-dead Congress that passed
drug laws more than 30 years ago: Which lawmaking voice should prevail?

The attorney general says feds should concentate their war on
marijuana on high-level traffickers, those using state laws as a cover
for illegal activity and on money launderers.

Did local DEA agents get that memo?

Because the search warrant in Thomas Township would seem to contradict
that directive.

It's passing strange, too, that township police accompanied federal
agents on this search. Is their prime responsibility to enforce state
laws, or federal laws regarding marijuana?

Lots of questions here, and not nearly enough answers.

With all the confusion - and ensuing excuses - in the law enforcement
community regarding the status of marjuana in Michigan, raids such as
this one probably are inevitable.

And it isn't just because Michgan authorities are still trying to
figure out this new twist in the will of the people.

With 14 states, including Michigan, giving the OK to the therapeutic
use of this drug, it's time for a federal referendum on medical marijuana.

It's probbaly too much to hope for Washington to go along wth these
states.

But can we get some sort of law or executive order from the White
House ordering federal agents to stand down in states where the people
have voted, and given their OK?

Otherwise, this intersection of conflicting state and federal laws is
going to end up in a crash, with more people caught up in a fight that
they may not have seen coming.